terrasig
Posts by this author
September 11, 2007
[The New York Times and many bloggers are writing this year about "9/11 fatigue." Here is why I will always remember. This was posted here originally on 11 September 2006. ]
Let me tell you about John Michael Griffin, Jr.
Griff, as he was known in high school, was a friend of mine.
Late in…
September 10, 2007
Today's New York Times notes this weekend's launch of Elsevier's OncologySTAT website:
But now Reed Elsevier, which publishes more than 400 medical and scientific journals, is trying an experiment that stands this model on its head. Over the weekend it introduced a Web portal, www.OncologySTAT.com…
September 9, 2007
Yes, you have heard this before: another company selling erectile dysfunction dietary supplements has been nailed by the US FDA for adulteration of their product with prescription drugs used for erectile dysfunction.
From the FDA (full press release here):
Bodee LLC, Inc., issued a nationwide…
September 7, 2007
This week has seen an outpouring of sentiments in the wake of the death of famed beer and spirits writer, Michael Jackson.
Therefore, we dedicate this edition of The Friday Fermentable to the memory of this remarkable gentleman and writer.
A post at Michael's Beer Hunter website details a series…
September 5, 2007
Just got a nice note from Daniel Kovach of CollegeScholarships.org announcing their blogging scholarship competition.
As is well-known to ScienceBlogs.com readers, our own Shelley Batts of Retrospectacle! won the $1,000 runner-up prize last year.
All the details and eligibility requirements are…
September 4, 2007
A press release came in from the US NIH before the weekend noting that NCI's Dr Jeffrey Green has identified potential anticancer activities from a grape skin extract that is not dependent on the presence of the well-known compound, resveratrol. The report is to appear in the 1 September issue of…
September 3, 2007
Today is the Labor Day holiday in the United States. This post originally appeared here on 4 September 2006. I cleaned it up and updated a bit but the discussion of the 1914 Ludlow Massacre seems particularly poignant due to this year's coal mining mishaps around the world.
"Labor Day differs in…
September 2, 2007
As I noted last evening, the world of beer and spirits is mourning the loss of British writer and libation enthusiast, Michael Jackson. Jackson was suffering from Parkinson's disease but succumbed to a heart attack earlier this week at age 65.
Jackson's Beer Hunter website/blog notes that a…
September 1, 2007
Renowned writer and international advocate for beer, Michael Jackson, died at his home in London on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. He was 65 and had been suffering from Parkinson's disease, but the cause of death is believed to be a heart attack.
Simply put, Mr Jackson did for beer what fellow…
September 1, 2007
Like any regulatory agency standing between industry and the public, the US FDA has its fair share of detractors. So, it's always a pleasure to draw attention to their programs that serve public and professional welfare.
Since February, 2002, FDA's MedWatch Drug Safety Program has produced short…
August 31, 2007
Another Wine Experience: Châteauneuf du Pape Tastings
By Erleichda
Another twosome of Jim's Disciples, not to mention their also being members of the "Hiking Group", celebrated one of those even decade important birthdays. Well, important enough to justify spending a little extra celebrating the…
August 30, 2007
Karl Schwartz is a tireless lymphoma patient advocate who is co-founder and president of Patients Against Lymphoma. Karl also oversees their excellent website, Lymphomation.org.
A missive from Karl came in today detailing how the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing to cut…
August 29, 2007
Nick Anthis at The Scientific Activist had a great post yesterday on the fallacies in an article from the UK Guardian detailing a peer-reviewed publication on replacing animal research with in vitro and computational models. As much as all scientists would wish this were true, there are simply no…
August 26, 2007
[Sort of a repost from last year, updated appropriately - APB]
Five years ago at 11:24 am EDT (1624 GMT), your humble blogger was handed the keys to a whole new vocabulary of love.
The gift came in the form of a 7 lb. 13 oz. (3,544 gm), 20.5 inch (52 cm) bundle of drooling, peeing, meconium-…
August 24, 2007
Another Wine Experience: Little Known or Under Publicized Grape Varieties
by Erleichda
It was my turn again to name a theme for the almost monthly get together of our wine dinner group, "Jim's Disciples". I thought to push the envelope a bit by asking everyone to bring a wine that used a grape…
August 23, 2007
By now you have probably heard of the excellent primer published in PLoS Medicine entitled, HIV Denial in the Internet Era. Written by my fellow ScienceBlogger, Tara Smith, and academic neurologist, Steven Novella, this concise but forceful article tells you everything you need to know about the…
August 22, 2007
This is just heart-wrenchingly sad:
A [Pittsburgh area] doctor was charged with involuntary manslaughter Wednesday for administering a chemical treatment that state police say killed a 5-year-old autistic boy.
The child, Abubakar Tariq Nadama, went into cardiac arrest at Dr. Roy E. Kerry's office…
August 22, 2007
...if they contrain sibutramine.
Sold under the trade name of Meridia in the US and Reductil in Europe, this prescription appetite suppressant for weight loss was recently detected in an apple cider vinegar supplement called MetaboSlim sold by Confidence, Inc. An alert by the FDA notes that the…
August 20, 2007
As noted in the previous post on the anticoagulant, Coumadin (warfarin), last week demonstrated how pharmacogenetic variations in drug metabolism and drug responses are giving rise to what is increasingly known as "personalized medicine."
In their second such warning last week, the US FDA alerted…
August 19, 2007
Late last week saw two announcements from the US FDA on genetic issues in drug safety. The first of these addresses the prescribing guidelines for Coumadin, or warfarin. Coumadin is a "blood-thinner" (or anticoagulant) prescribed for conditions from heart valve and hip/knee joint replacements to…
August 18, 2007
Among these pages, you've probably seen Orac's take on the Providence, RI, feline resident of a nursing home that could allegedly sense when inhabitants were about to die, curling up with them during their final hours. (In critical thinking circles, Orac notes that these observations can be…
August 17, 2007
The irregular frequency of The Friday Fermentable has been due mostly to my focus on two cases of a (inexpensive) private label wine that has kept my summer drinking variety to a bare minimum. Thankfully, my guest blogger, Erleichda, has often come to the rescue with fabulous descriptions of his…
August 14, 2007
The Wall Street Journal reports that a top Mannatech (Wikipedia, corporate) distributor has been found guilty of not paying federal income taxes.
He [Raymond Gebauer] became an associate in 1994 and his sales network, operating through companies he owned, was still signing up associates this year,…
August 12, 2007
This may at first seem to be an esoteric development but scientists at the Oregon Health & Science University have succeeded in propagating human liver cells in severely immunocompromised mice. The full report appears in Nature Biotechnology. The work was done in collaboration with colleagues…
August 9, 2007
A federal appeals court has denied the right of patients to the use of cancer drugs prior to their complete assessment of safety and efficacy. The case was filed against the US FDA in 2003 by the Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs, who argued that patients have a…
August 6, 2007
Back in June, we reported on several botanical/non-botanical supplement studies presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting. One was a Mayo Clinic study of a proprietary Wisconsin-grown ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) extract showing positive effects of the preparation in…
August 1, 2007
Bear with me. I'm posting this on ScienceBlogs because many of us have had our own beefs with the US airline industry. Many readers also travel around to conferences and, as a result, must use a US airline. Hence, this really is a science-related post.
But pardon me if I am suspicious of…
July 30, 2007
The author of Natural Causes: Death, Lies and Politics in America's Vitamin and Herbal Supplement Industry, Dan Hurley, has a three-minute video editorial at Medscape today.
I must admit to being a little ambivalent about his message that, "Evidence-based medicine is the rallying cry of a…
July 30, 2007
This post appeared originally on 8 Feb 2006 at the old site for this blog. A frequent reader and commenter, Joe, suggested that I repost it here as it illustrates many common problems with clinical trials of botanical medicines.
You'd think the funding folks would learn at the NIH National Center…
July 28, 2007
Only 74% of the States? How 'bout you?
create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.